Department of Finance

About the Department

The finance discipline is focused on two primary issues. The first is determining value. The second is making the best decisions with respect to value. We study these issues in a variety of contexts and industries. The three primary areas of finance are financial management, investments, and financial markets and intermediaries.

Financial management focuses on how an organization can accomplish its mission. For example, a corporation seeks to create and maintain wealth, and a non-profit organization seeks to improve the world in some way. All organizations want to achieve their mission to the greatest extent possible, and that requires making the best decisions with respect to value. The area of investments studies the purchase and sale of financial securities, such as stocks, bonds, options, and futures. Financial intermediaries sell claims on themselves to investors, such as stock, life insurance, or a bank deposit, and invest that money in such things as loans, real estate, or their financial securities. Although the finance function is especially prominent in mjaor corporations, and the investments, banking, real estate, and insurance industries, every organization and industry includes a finance function.